Chapter 4

Compact Planar Multiband

Antennas for Mobile Applications
Ahmad Rashidy Razali, Amin M Abbosh and
Marco A Antoniades
Additional information is available at the end of the chapter
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/52053
1. Introduction
This chapter focuses on the design of compact planar multiband antennas intended for exist
ing wireless services including LTE, GPS, GSM, PCS, DCS, GPS, UMTS, WLAN and Wi
MAX bands. The present techniques available in the open literature include the modification
of the main radiator via bending, folding, meandering and wrapping. Each approach offers
different advantages, depending on the required application. The constraint for the lower
band generation is the main challenge in radiator miniaturization. The quarter wavelength
radiator that is subjected to miniaturization may suffer from limited bandwidth and low ra
diation efficiency. An alternative approach which relies on modifications to the ground
plane is a promising technique, which often has been previously overlooked by antenna de
signers. The introduction of a ground slot in a finite antenna ground plane can be further
extended to include reconfigurable features. Thus, such antennas that are compact and have
multiband capability can be promising candidates for many wireless applications.
2. Design guidelines for planar antenna configurations
Antennas for wireless communications are commonly developed in the form of passive pla
nar structures, which consist of a main radiating element, a supporting ground plane, a sup
porting substrate, and a feeding structure. The design configurations, sizes and type of
substrates will depend on the desired frequency of operation and its radiation performan
ces. Nowadays, planar antennas for wireless devices are mainly constructed using printed
planar technology. Fundamentally, the small antenna design is based on the configuration
2013 Razali et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
of a monopole. Following the expansion of research on antenna design, the monopole config
uration started to change, forming many alternative designs such as the popular planar in
verted-F antenna abbreviated as PIFA and coplanar inverted-F antenna abbreviated as CIFA.
In general, there are two main considerations that govern planar antenna designs; antenna
miniaturization techniques and multiband operation. In antenna designs, multiband opera
tion can be achieved by modifications to the main radiator applied using two strategies. The
first strategy is to create several radiators for different resonances from a single feeder. The
second strategy is to elongate the main radiators physical length to achieve multiple reso
nant modes. However, creating several radiating branches may occupy more space, hence
making the antenna physically larger than the desired volume. For this reason, while de
signing a multiband antenna, the designs must also apply miniaturization approaches, such
as the ones presented in the following design strategies section.
3. Design strategies
3.1. Modification of the main radiator
The main radiator of a monopole/PIFA/CIFA type antenna plays a major role in determining
the resonant frequency of the antenna. For a small antenna, particularly the /4 radiator con
figuration, miniaturization can be achieved in many ways. The main radiator arm can be
modified by changing its configuration in such a way that it occupies optimally the limited
area/volume provided for it.
One of the design techniques to achieve multiband operation is to have branches for the
main antenna radiator. The branches are of monopole strips or arms to create different cur
rent paths for different resonances. This technique allows the excitation of multiple resonant
frequencies at their fundamental mode. Multi-stacking or multi-layering is another techni
que that offers similar operation as the multi-branching technique. Similarly, it is capable of
creating different current paths and thus different resonances.
A multi-resonator configuration is also achievable through proper application of some sort
of slot or slit, sometimes also known as a notch geometry. In this approach, the radiator is
modified in such a way that its original geometry is introduced with fine-tuned defined con
figurations of slots or slits. The resulting modification separates the main current stream in
to several other paths, which in turn create different resonators. It is worthwhile to mention
that designs utilizing slots are not necessarily limited to straight lines or rectangular geome
tries. Other shapes have also been proposed such as a U-slotted PIFA, a V-slot loaded patch
antenna, a Z-shaped slot antenna, or an open-ended Rampart-slot antenna.
The second strategy for the antenna design has the goal of obtaining a compact design and
multi-band operation while using a single radiator without splitting it into branches. A con
siderable number of work employing this design strategy can be identified in the antenna
literature. Among the popular techniques to elongate a single radiator to achieve multiple
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 76
mode resonances without diminishing the antennas compact feature include spiralling,
looping, folding into a 3-D geometry, and bending.
Miniaturization can also be accomplished by meandering the antenna structure. The work
ing principle is similar to that of spiralling. The meandered geometry preserves the original
length of the radiating element but miniaturizes its overall size. The resulting input impe
dance of the meandered geometry is usually different from its spiral counterpart. Several
factors determine the variation of the input impedance such as the gap between the opposite
meandered lines and the width of the meandered structure. The meandered geometry can
be applied in a variety of antenna types.
All the above-considered techniques for compact multi-band antennas offer reasonable solu
tions. However, they introduce considerable complexity with regard to the control of match
ing the input impedance of the antenna. Because of this problem, some antenna designers
have focused their attention on providing better control of the input impedance match with
out being constrained by miniaturization. This strategy is the main motivation behind the
approach involving parasitic elements within the antenna geometry. The aim of using para
sitic elements is to compensate the impedance mismatch and to achieve better resonant fre
quency tuning.
3.2. Modification of the ground plane
As a result of the advancement in RF transceivers, the space allocated for its radiating ele
ment has become smaller. The reduced space is due to the increase in the number of new
circuitry needed to provide better data channelling. The modification of the radiating ele
ment in a compact volume has been very challenging. An alternative solution is a better uti
lization of its ground plane. Even though the geometry of the main radiating element plays
a main role in determining the resonant frequency and other performances of an antenna,
the importance of the ground plane as the natural complimentary agent to a radiating cur
rent must not be neglected. The modification includes size variation, location of radiating el
ement within the ground plane area or inserting slots in the ground plane.
Variations in a finite ground plane size and geometry affect the performance of an antenna.
The resonant frequency of a conventional PIFA starts to converge to that of the case of an
infinite ground plane when the size of the finite ground plane is increased above a unit
wavelength. Also, the bandwidth increases with the length of the ground plane. With re
spect to the PIFA antenna used in a cellular phone, it was shown that an increased band
width, especially with respect to the lowest resonant frequency of operation, is achieved
with a longer ground plane.
With respect to the complimentary role of ground plane to the main radiator, any modifica
tion to its geometry should also affect the overall antenna performance. Inserting slots is one
obvious example. The insertion of ground slots creates some sort of discontinuity which
causes the electric current launched by the primary radiator to reroute its path along the
conducting surface of the ground. As a result, the electrical length of the ground is in
creased. With the strong coupling from the radiator, the ground slots cause a considerable
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impact on the input impedance. This positive impact includes the introduction of new reso
nances which are advantageous for the multiband design
3.3. Reconfigurable approach
With multiband capability, reconfigurable antennas can utilize more efficiently the radio fre
quency spectrum, facilitating better access to wireless services in modern radio transceivers.
Reconfigurable antennas are generally divided into two main categories: frequency tunable
and pattern diversity antennas. Furthermore, the selection of electronic switches is of para
mount importance. Depending on the type of antennas, switches such as RF MEMS, varac
tors and PIN diodes can be used. The choice is governed by electrical specifications,
fabrication complexity, bias requirement, switching time, and price.
4. Design examples
4.1. Coplanar IFA with fixed ground slots
Coplanar inverted-F antennas (CIFA) feature a low prole, compact size, and easy integra
tion with an RF front-end. On the other hand, they feature a narrow operational bandwidth.
Several techniques to increase the operational bandwidth or achieve multiband operation
can be applied as discussed in [1, 2]. However, most of these techniques focus on modicati
ons of the radiating element to either provide several radiating branches or elongating the
radiators dimension to generate multiple resonant modes. This approach faces a problem
when the antenna has to be embedded into a small space as demanded by a compact trans
ceiver. An alternative technique to provide multiple resonant frequencies or bandwidth en
hancement is through a better utilization of the ground plane [3-10]. In this technique,
secondary radiators are formed by ground slots, which introduce new resonant frequencies
or enhance the already existing ones. The feasibility of this approach to enhance an impe
dance bandwidth has been demonstrated for a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) [6-8]. It has
been shown that with the proper tuning of slot parameters, new resonant frequencies can be
generated to provide multiband operation or increase the bandwidth [7, 8]. In all of these
designs, a coaxial probe was used to feed the radiating patch. This conguration requires
ground slots to be in close proximity of the primary radiator to excite efficiently new reso
nances. A shortfall of such a conguration is a limited means for tuning the slot dimensions.
Also, the restricted slot locations may limit the antenna integration with the RF circuitry [9].
Recently, an alternative approach involving a CIFA and a microstrip feedline coupled to
ground slots has been proposed [10]. According to the work described in [10], the use of the
microstrip feedline in conjunction with the CIFA eliminates the shortcoming of a coaxial
probe-fed patch. The reason is that this feeder can be positioned arbitrarily on the printed
circuit board (PCB) and thus offers a more exible coupling with ground slots to introduce
new resonant frequencies. The work presented in [10] considers a single ground slot and
was limited to WLAN frequency bands. In the following design, the work is extended to
multiple ground slots and includes detailed simulation and experimental investigations.
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 78
Two congurations of CIFAs with slots in the ground plane are simulated, fabricated, and
measured to validate the proposed multiband design technique. The design is accomplished
with the aid of CST Microwave Studio 2009 [11].
4.1.1. Single and double ground slot configurations
The two investigated configurations of CIFAs are shown Figure 1. The design assumes a 0.508
mm thick RO4003 substrate with a relative permittivity
r
= 3.38 and tan = 0.0027. The total
length of the meandered CIFA tail is designed to be of quarter wavelength of its operational
frequency which is 2.45 GHz. The meandered tail including the shorting strip is set to be con
tained within an area of W
p
L
p
= 6 13 mm
2
. A 50 microstrip line which is arranged in the
same plane as the main radiator is used to feed this antenna. Note that the length and position
of the microstrip feedline is only limited by the size of the finite ground, otherwise it can be ar
bitrary. The shorting strip of the CIFA is connected to the ground plane via the substrate. The
other parameter of the CIFA are the shorting strip to the antenna feeder gap, g = 1.15 mm, while
the width and gap of the meandered tail are set to 1 mm. On the opposite side of the substrate,
the size of the ground plane is set to W H = 40 50 mm
2
.

(a) (b)
Figure 1. Antenna configurations. (a) Single ground slot CIFA for dual-band operation. (b) Double ground slot CIFA
for tri-band operation.
Two configurations of CIFAs are introduced with two different ground slot outlines, as
shown in Figure 1. As observed in Figure 1(a), the introduced slots are open-circuited in one
arm and short-circuited at the other. The open-circuited arms of the ground slots are respon
sible for introducing new resonances, while the short-circuited ones act as tuning stubs. The
initial lengths of the radiating arms are about one quarter-wavelength. The coupling loca
tions along the microstrip feedline are selected to avoid an adverse loading of the primary
radiator. The final dimensions are obtained from a parametric analysis performed using CST
Microwave Studio. For the first conguration (Figure 1 (a)), an open-end slot with an opti
mized distance of W
s
L
s
= 1 33 mm
2
and at a distance of H
s
= 4 mm from the upper ground
edge is designed. The second configuration (Figure 1 (b)) features two slots of dimension W
s1
L
s1
= 0.5 33 mm
2
and W
s2
L
s2
= 0.5 13.2 mm
2
, respectively, placed at opposite edges. The
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distance of both slots with respect to the upper ground edge are H
s1
= 4 mm and H
s2
=7.5 mm.
These two configurations indeed indicate that the microstrip feedline feed offers more flexi
bility to the ground slot coupling than a coaxial probe operating in conjunction with a PIFA.
Figure 2. Simulated and measured reflection coefficient, |S
11
|, for the CIFA of Figure 1(a) with and without a single
slot.
Figure 3. Simulated and measured reflection coefficient, |S
11
|, for the CIFA of Figure 1(b) with and without a double
slot.
The performances of both the CIFA congurations are assessed in terms of their reflection
coefficients, radiation characteristics, and gain. Figure 2 shows the simulated and measured
reflection coefficients of the rst slot conguration of the CIFA. The presented results vali
date the proposed idea that the coupling of a single open-ended slot with a microstrip feed
line is capable of generating a new resonant frequency at about 5.5 GHz (900-MHz
impedance bandwidth with |S
11
| below -10 dB). Together with the fundamental resonance
of the CIFA radiator at 2.4 GHz, the dual-band CIFA can support the WLAN 2.4/5.5-GHz
system. There is good agreement between the simulation and experimental results. The si
mulated and measured reflection coefficients for the CIFA conguration with a double
ground slot are shown in Figure 3. The presented results demonstrate a promising multi
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 80
band operation of the CIFA. The proposed technique introduces two additional resonant
frequencies. The rst one is above 3 GHz, and another one is above 5 GHz. The impedance
bandwidths are quite wide and accommodate not only the 2.4/5.5-GHz WLAN, but also in
clude 2.5/3.5/5.5 GHz for WiMAX. Again, there is a relatively good agreement between the
simulated and measured results for the reflection coefficients. In addition, the proposed cou
pling to the ground slots does not affect the reflection coefficient performance of the CIFA
around the original resonance of 2.4 GHz. This means that the design procedure does not
introduce any extra complexities.

(a) (b) (c)
Figure 4. Fabricated prototypes of the meandered-tail CIFA. (a) Top view. (b) Bottom view of the single-ground-slot
CIFA for dual-band operation. (c) Bottom view of the double-ground-slot CIFA for tri-band operation.
The measured radiation patterns for these antennas indicate approximately omni-directional
characteristics along the principal planes. The measured gains of the dual-band CIFA are
greater than 1.6 dBi, while for the tri-band CIFA they are more than 2.2 dBi. The photo
graphs of the two manufactured varieties of CIFAs with ground slots are shown in Figure 4.
They confirm a simple manufacturing structure for these multi-band antennas. Their overall
size is quite compact and the slotted ground leaves still plenty of space for inclusion of RF
and signal processing electronics.
4.1.2. Parallel and perpendicular ground slot configurations
In the following work, an investigation to study the effect of different orientations of
open-end ground slots that are coupled to the microstrip feedline is presented. In con
trast to the previous work, the CIFA conguration with a straight quarter wavelength ra
diating arm accompanied by differently oriented ground slots is considered. The substrate
used is Rogers RO4003 with a dielectric constant of 3.38, tan = 0.0027 and thickness of
0.508 mm. The antennas are fabricated and their prototypes are experimentally tested. In
the investigated antennas, a basic CIFA with a straight radiating arm is assumed, as
shown in Figure 5. The microstrip feedline was then chosen to achieve coupling to
ground slots that were located and oriented in different positions. In Figure 5(a), the
open-end ground slot is offset by some distance from the CIFA and its orientation was
chosen to be parallel to the CIFA radiating arm. Assuming a 0.508 mm thick RO4003 sub
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strate, the total length of the PIFA arm is a quarter wavelength at 2.45 GHz. The width of
the radiating arm is set to 1 mm. The total area of the antenna including the shorting
strip is set to be contained within an area of l
a
h
a
= 24 mm 3.5 mm. A 50 microstrip
feedline is arranged in the same plane as the CIFA. The length of this feedline is gov
erned by the location of the input port of the RF front-end to which it has to be connect
ed. A shorting connection of the CIFA is made using a conducting strip through the
substrate. The shorting strip to the antenna feeder gap is g = 1.15 mm.

(a) (b)
Figure 5. The first (a) and second (b) configurations of CIFAs with ground slots parallel and perpendicular to the main
radiating arm, respectively.
On the opposite side of the substrate, the size of the ground plane is set to W H = 40 mm
55 mm. An open-end slot with a length (l) and width of 13 mm 0.5 mm is inserted in a
parallel position with respect to the radiating arm as shown in Figure 5(a). The second con
figuration with the ground slot perpendicular to the CIFA is shown in Figure 5(b). In this
case, the microstrip feeder is bent halfway exactly at a right angle towards the RHS edge of
the ground plane, as shown in Figure 5(b). Concerning the length of the feeder, it can be ar
bitrary. However it must be properly coupled to the slot. Notice that the overall location of
the primary radiator has been shifted by a few millimeters to the left to avoid the microstrip
feed point from overpassing the edge. This time, the open-end slot with length (l) and width
of 10 mm 1 mm is inserted in a position that is perpendicular with respect to the radiating
arm. It is noticeable that the length, width and position of the slots for both configurations
are different. Their optimum dimensions are derived from parametric analyses performed
with the use of CST Microwave Studio.
Figures 6 and 7 show the simulated reflection coefficients for the CIFAs without and with
the slots. It is apparent from the results for the first configuration of CIFA shown in Figure 6
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 82
that the introduction of the slot has successfully introduced two additional resonant fre
quency bands apart from the original 200 MHz band (|S
11
| below -10 dB) at around 2.45
GHz due to the primary CIFA radiating element. From the simulated reflection coefficient,
the new frequency bands can approximately cover a bandwidth of almost 300 MHz at 3.3
GHz and up to 1.14 GHz around 5.5 GHz with reference to the -10 db |S
11
| coefficient crite
rion. These bands cover WLAN 2.45/5.25/5.85 GHz, HiperLAN/2 5.6 GHz and WiMAX
2.5/5.5 GHz. The 3.3 GHz resonant frequency band however is close to WiMAX 3.5 GHz.
Figure 7 shows the simulated reflection coefficient for the second configuration of CIFA.
Again, the multiband operation of this antenna is clearly observed. The slot insertion is
again responsible for the introduction of a new frequency band of 720 MHz bandwidth (|
S
11
| below -10 dB) at around 5.4 GHz. Together with the original 2.45 GHz resonant frequen
cy band for the primary radiating element, the second configuration of the antenna covers
WLAN 2.45/5.25 GHz, HiperLAN/2 5.6 GHz and WiMAX 2.5/5.5 GHz.
Figure 6. Simulated reflection coefficient, |S
11
|, for the first configuration of the proposed CIFA shown in Figure 5 (a)
with and without a parallel slot.
Figure 7. Simulated reflection coefficient, |S
11
|, for the second configuration of the proposed CIFA shown in Figure 5
(b) with and without a perpendicular slot.
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Figure 8. Fabricated prototypes of the two antenna configurations. (a) Top view of the first configuration of the CIFA.
(b) Bottom view of the first configuration of the CIFA. (c) Top view of the second configuration of the CIFA. (d) Bottom
view of the second configuration of the CIFA.
Figure 9. Measured reflection coefficient, |S
11
|, for the first configuration of the CIFA prototype shown in Figures 8 (a)
and (b), compared to the simulated result.
Figure 10. Measured reflection coefficient, |S
11
|, for the second configuration of the CIFA prototype shown in Figures
8 (c) and (d), compared to the simulated result.
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 84
To verify the simulated performance, the two antennas were fabricated and experimentally
tested with respect to their reflection coefficients, radiation patterns and gain. Photographs
(front and back view) of the fabricated antenna prototypes are shown in Figure 8. Figures 9 and
10 present the measured reflection coefficient of the fabricated antennas compared with the si
mulated results presented earlier. A very good agreement between the experimental and sim
ulation results for the two antenna prototypes is obtained confirming the validity of the
presented designs. The measured radiation patterns for both the antenna configurations are
shown in Figures 11 and 12. They were obtained in an indoor far-field range using a broad
band linearly polarized horn antenna as a receiving antenna. For the first configuration of the
CIFA, the co-polar component of the radiation pattern, except for one dip, is nearly omni-direc
tional in the xy plane at 2.45 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 5.5 GHz, as observed in Figure 11. The cross-po
lar component in that plane is quite weak at 2.45 GHz but increases with frequency and is
comparable to the cross-polar component at 5.5 GHz. In the remaining xz and yz planes the co-
and cross-polar components are comparable in magnitude across the frequencies of 2.45, 3.3
and 5.5 GHz. This is the desired feature for portable wireless devices in mobile applications.
For the second configuration of CIFA, the cross-polar component of the merasured radiation
patterns at 2.45 GHz and 5.5 GHz show nearly omni-directional properties in the xy-plane. In
this plane the cross-polar component is considerably larger than the cross-polar component.
For the remaining xz and yz planes, the co- and cross-polar components are of similar strength.
The measured gain of the antennas ranges between -0.45 to 3.95dBi.
Figure 11. Measured radiation patterns for the first configuration of the CIFA prototype shown in Figures 8 (a) and (b)
with a parallel ground slot, at 2.45 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 5.5 GHz.
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Figure 12. Measured radiation patterns of the second configuration of the CIFA prototype shown in Figures 8 (c) and
(d) with a perpendicular ground slot, at 2.45 GHz and 5.5 GHz.
4.2. Coplanar IFA with reconfigurable ground slot
A reconfigurable coplanar inverted-F antenna to operate at the lower bands of wireless serv
ices; the GSM, PCS and UMTS service bands is presented. By introducing a dimension-tuna
ble ground slot, the original resonance from the antenna main radiator is not affected. At the
same time, frequency reconfigurability is achieved at the ground slot excitations. With mul
tiband capability, reconfigurable antennas can utilize more efficiently radio frequency spec
trum, facilitating a better access to wireless services in modern radio transceivers. Several
methods have been reported in the literature to achieve reconfigurable antennas. Generally,
they are divided into two main categories: frequency tunable and pattern diversity anten
nas. For frequency tunable antennas, much attention has been given to reconfigurable slot
antenna designs [5, 12-14] due to the flexibility of slots in integrating electronic switches.
The frequency tuning characteristics of a slot antenna can be achieved by changing the slot
effective length [5, 12, 13] or by switching the connection between the feed and the ground
[14]. Apart from using ground slots, frequency reconfigurability can also be achieved by
changing the induced current distribution [15] or varying the ground plane electrical length
[16] supporting a patch antenna. For pattern diversity antennas, reconfigurability can be ob
tained by adjusting the physical configuration of the antenna radiator to produce tunable ra
diation patterns [13, 17-22]. Another important element in reconfigurable configuration is
the selection of electronic switches. Depending on the type of antennas, the switches such as
RF MEMS [23-25], varactors and PIN diodes can be used. The choice is governed by electri
cal specifications, fabrication complexity, bias requirement, switching time, and price. For
instance, RF MEMS switches are very low loss and their other advantages are that they do
not require bias lines [23]. However, they are costly. PIN and varactor diodes are low cost
and have a simple fabrication process. They require a proper bias network isolating the dc
bias current from the RF signal, which usually leads to a complicated biasing network. The
complicated dc bias network can sometimes be avoided, and one such solution has been re
ported in [13]. Furthermore, the limited operating frequency of some commercial low cost
PIN diodes can be overcome using solutions proposed in [26]. Most of frequency reconfigur
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 86
able slot antennas generate only single operating bands at a particular reconfigurable mode.
Although many conventional multiband techniques exist such as multi-mode resonator or
multi-resonator [27], they are difficult to implement in reconfigurable slot antennas. Howev
er, as mentioned in Section 4.1, a coplanar inverted-F antenna (CIFA) with ground slots is
capable of generating a new higher-band resonance from a ground slot without affecting the
original resonance of the patch radiator. This work on reconfigurable ground slots provides
a logical extension to the previous work using a fixed ground slot CIFA, and describes a
new solution to achieve a reconfigurable antenna capable of generating multiband operation
at each reconfigurable mode. By means of a length-tunable ground slot, a new reconfigura
ble coplanar inverted-F antenna achieves dual-band operation at four different modes. The
generated frequency bands cover several popular wireless services including GSM900,
PCS1900 and UMTS2100.
In the antenna configuration, a /4 900 MHz microstrip radiator of width L
2
= 2 mm is de
signed in CST Microwave Studio v2010. The radiator is fed by a 50 microstrip feedline of
width W
f
= 3 mm and placed W
d
= 6 mm from the antenna edge. To occupy a small area of L
r
= 10 mm W
g
= 40 mm, one end of the radiator is folded twice with L
1
= 3 mm and W
1
= 26
mm to form the configuration shown in Figure 13. To realize an inverted-F antenna, the oth
er end of the radiator is grounded through a via. This is to compensate the large capacitance
introduced from the coupling of the folded arm to the ground. The other parameters are the
gap between the feedline to the shorting strip G = 4 mm and the L
g
= 90 mm W
g
= 40 mm
ground plane supporting the antenna. The chosen ground plane size is typical for many
wireless transceivers such as a mobile phone.

(a) (b)
Figure 13. Proposed reconfigurable antenna. (a) Passive antenna configuration. (b) Close-up view of the short-end
section of the ground slot and the configuration of the PIN diode switch bias network (marked by the red box in (a)).
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Following the technique in [28], a slot is introduced in the ground plane to excite the higher
frequency band centred about 1850 MHz. The ground slot is placed L
d
= 5 mm from the
ground top edge and has a dimension of L
s
= 3 mm W
s
= 26 mm as shown in Figure 13(a).
In order to achieve an electronically variable (reconfigurable) slot length, three identical 1
mm 1 mm conducting pads (P1, P2 and P3) and three pairs of PIN diode switches are in
troduced in the ground slot as presented in Figure 13(b). The gap d = 1 mm in Figure 13(b) is
chosen to allow uniform decrease of the slot effective length, thus allowing uniform increase
in the excited resonant frequency. All final dimensions are achieved through optimization
using a parametric study in CST Microwave Studio. The PIN diode used in the antenna is
MAP4274-1279T (MACOM). It is a single-diode series with dimension of 1 mm 0.7 mm
and height of 0.6 mm. It is forward biased with a voltage of 0.7 V
DC
and a current of 10 mA.
During forward bias, it exhibits an intrinsic capacitance of 0.1 pF with forward bias resist
ance of 3 .
Diode Combination
Diode States
Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4
D1 & D2 OFF ON OFF OFF
D3 & D4 OFF OFF ON OFF
D5 & D6 OFF OFF OFF ON
Table 1. Reconfigurable Antenna Modes of Operation
The switches are designed to operate in three diode pairs. The switch states at each mode
are given in Table 1. From the table, the ON-state indicates the diode is forward biased
while the OFF-state indicates it is reverse biased. For simplicity in the simulation model, the
ON-state diode is represented by a 1 mm 1 mm PEC. In this case, the effect of the PIN di
ode forward biased resistance is neglected. The PEC is removed to represent the OFF-state
diode. The photograph of the manufactured reconfigurable antenna is shown in Figure 14.
The antenna is fabricated on a 1.6 mm FR4 substrate with relative permittivity of
r
= 4.4.
During measurements, the PIN diode switches are biased with a simple DC bias network as
proposed in [13]. Each conducting pad (P1, P2 and P3) is initially soldered to a 1.2 k resis
tor to protect the diodes and the VNA, as shown in Figure 14(d). A GW GPC-3030D dc pow
er supply unit is used to bias the diodes. The S-parameter measurements are carried out
using a R&S ZVA24 VNA.
Figure 15 shows both the simulated and measured S11 of the proposed antenna. A close
agreement between the measured and simulated results is observed in each mode. The dis
crepancies are due to the idealized switches used in CST simulations. The measured results
show that the proposed reconfigurable antenna covers two frequency bands: between 850
MHz to 960 MHz at the lower band and between 1800 MHz to 2140 MHz at the upper band
(at 6 dB reflection coefficient or VSWR 3:1). As a result, the proposed antenna can be consid
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 88
ered as a good candidate for wireless services application such as GSM900, PCS1900 and
UMTS2100. In fact, the proposed antenna can cover additional bands surpassing mode 4,
with extra pairs of switches in the tunable ground slot. In addition, the parameter d can be
easily adjusted to obtain the desired band separation between adjacent modes. The meas
ured radiation patterns at the desired frequencies are close to omni-directional. The antenna
gain ranges from 1.4 dBi to 3.45 dBi, while the efficiency is between 63% and 80%. The gains
are expectedly low due to the small electrical size of the antenna. The obtained efficiencies
are due to conduction losses partially incurred in the PIN diodes switches, and are accepta
ble for portable wireless applications [27].

(a) (b) (c) (d)
Figure 14. Fabricated prototype of the reconfigurable antenna. (a) Front view. (b) Back view. (c) Integrated PIN diode
configuration. (d) Bias line connection to PIN diode switches.
Figure 15. Measured and simulated results for the antenna input refection coefficient, |S
11
|, for the four modes when
the individual diodes are turned on or off.
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89
4.3. Slim IFA with a modified ground plane
Apart from the coplanar configurations, inverted-F antennas can also be designed with
out a dielectric substrate for different transceiver applications. However, without the size-
reduction factor by the substrate, the main problem with this antenna configuration is the
large size of the main radiator and the ground. In the following work, a novel configura
tion of an antenna that combines wrapping, folding, ground slots/strips to achieve a su
per-slim (IFA) with enhanced operational bandwidth is proposed. To fulfill this
challenging configuration, multiband radiators have to be miniaturized to fit into the
small volume available for modern tranceiver modules. At present, there are many ap
proaches used by antenna designers to reduce the overall projection area of a typical an
tenna to fit a portable wireless transceiver. Most of them require the use of a single feed
structure, as preferred by the majority of wireless device manufacturers. The commonly
used antenna for these purposes is a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA). To meet the multi
band operation requirement, its main radiator consists of either an increased single arm/
branch or multiple arms/branches to excite multiple resonant modes [7]. The length of
each radiating arm has to be at least one quarter wavelength (/4) at the lowest reso
nance frequency to meet the operation requirements in the lowest frequency band [7]. As
a result, this is the longest part of the PIFA which requires miniaturization to fit the avail
able space in a compact transceiver. Nevertheless, folding, meandering and wrapping of
the arm and the remaining parts of the PIFA can drastically reduce its projection area.
However, these miniaturization techniques have to be carefully applied as they shift reso
nant frequencies and adversely affect the radiation efficiency [29]. The shift in resonant
frequencies is due to the constructive/destructive effects of parasitic reactances which are
created during the PIFA structure modification. Usually the length of the electric current
path becomes reduced when a thick radiating arm is bent or folded. In turn, a reduction
in radiation efficiency is due to the coupling between adjacent parts of radiating arms in
troduced by folding, meandering or wrapping [29]. The opposite directions of current
paths created in this process are responsible for a gradual cancellation of the radiated
electromagnetic fields. As a result, the above mentioned miniaturization techniques in
clude a tradeoff between the antenna size and its efficiency. To ease the design challenge,
tuning and optimization is usually accomplished with the use of commercial full EM
wave simulators such as CST Microwave Studio or Ansoft HFSS. For a typical portable
device, such as a cellular phone, the height (thickness) of the primary radiator from 11
mm is reduced down to 7 mm [30]. However with the recent demand for slimmer trans
ceivers, an even smaller height is required and can be as little as just 3 mm. One of the
most attractive approaches to meet this miniaturization challenge is to wrap the main ra
diator in three dimensions. The main advantage of this technique is that it provides extra
size reduction on top of folding and meandering of the radiating element. The benefits of
this technique in relation to achieving compact antenna designs have been demonstrated
in many recent works. For example, the wrapped monopole antenna proposed in [31] fea
tures a small volume of 12 x 15 x 7 mm while providing GSM/DCS operation. A similar
slim design of a monopole antenna, which is based on wrapping, has been described in
[32]. The presented antenna has a height of only 5 mm and delivers GSM, DCS and PCS
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 90
operation. Another example of a wrapped monopole antenna has been shown in [33] and
covers almost all popular the frequency bands between 850 MHz to 6 GHz at 6 dB reflec
tion coefficient (VSWR 3:1). This antenna only occupies a volume of 60 x 13 x 5.6 mm. In
[34], a wrapped PIFA capable of operating in frequency bands between 850 MHz and 3
GHz features a volume of 44 x 15 x 8 mm. A further example presented in [35] has
shown that the height of the wrapped PIFA can be further reduced to only 4.8 mm while
the coverage of GSM/PCS/DCS/UMTS/WLAN bands can still be well maintained. Howev
er all these designs do not met the super-slim height of 3 mm. In the following proposed
solution, a super slim wrapped inverted-F antenna for GSM/DCS/PCS operation is initial
ly designed by miniaturizing the main radiator. To achieve a reduced-size ground plane,
the proposed solution includes the use of a narrow side strip and a small size ground
slot. The proposed antenna occupies a low profile volume of just 40 x 10 x 3 mm
3
with a
ground plane of 40 x 90 mm
2
. The proposed antenna covers several LTE Bands, GSM850
(824-894 MHz) and PCS1900 (1850-1990 MHz) at 6 dB reflection coefficient or 3:1 VSWR.

(a) (b)
Figure 16. (a) Unwrapped, and (b) wrapped antenna configuration.
Initially, the main radiator configuration of the proposed antenna is shown in Figure 16. The
antenna is 40 x 10 mm in area (in the xy-plane) and its height is 3 mm (along the z-axis). The
supporting ground plane is 40 x 120 mm. The antenna uses no plastic substrate and is
formed by a copper foil. Its very low profile is obtained using a fourth order folding/wrap
ping technique. As shown in Figure 16(a), it is fed at the middle part of the lowest folded
arm with a 50 U.FL mini coaxial cable that is commonly used in many portable devices
such as computer notebooks. The lower end of the antenna main radiator arm is shorted to
the ground as shown in the figure. The figure also shows the folding transition of the pro
posed antenna to transform its main radiator into a smaller wrapped dimension. It starts
with an inverted-F radiator that has a /4 projection length between its open and short ends
at 850 MHz. The arm is folded and meandered as shown in Figure 16(a). Finally the antenna
is wrapped using the fourth order folding technique, giving the final height of 3 mm. Figure
17 presents the comparison between the measured and simulated reflection coefficient of the
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developed antenna. Good agreement between the measured and simulated results is appa
rent. The measured lower and upper resonant frequency bands of the proposed antenna for
the 6-dB reflection coefficient (or VSWR 3:1) reference are 770 MHz to 970 MHz and 1710
MHz to 1990 MHz respectively. They cover the GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, DCS 1800
MHz and PCS 1900 MHz wireless services.
Figure 17. Measured and simulated (CST) reflection coefficient, |S
11
|, for the wrapped antenna of Figure 16 (b).
To achieve a smaller size ground plane, the original 120 mm length is reduced to 90 mm.
This reduction is about 25% from the original length. To maintain its original electrical
length, the 30 mm long section could be folded. However, this idea does not work because
of a large capacitance between the two sections.
A viable alternative is presented in Figure 18 where a 1 x 10 mm
2
slot and 2 x 83 mm
2
strip
are introduced in the ground plane following the earlier work presented in [33]. As ob
served in Figure 18(b), the introduced modifications do not adversely affect any RF or signal
processing modules that are usually placed on the ground plane. The small slot is in the
close vicinity of the PIFA while the narrow strip is on the side of the ground plane. The two
modifications use less than 5% of the reduced size ground plane area. Photographs of the
proposed antenna with the ground modifications are shown in Figure 19. From the photo
graphs, it can be seen that in these structures the plastic foam with air-like dielectric con
stant is used to support the wrapped radiator and the strip.
In the simulation results, the bandwidth of the lower frequency band reduces with the re
duction of the ground plane length. However, the quality of the impedance match improves
at the upper band. The reduction of the impedance bandwidth in the lower band is due to
the analogous reduction of the optimal electrical length of the ground plane [7, 27].
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 92

(a) (b)
Figure 18. Detailed view of the proposed antenna with a ground plane modification. (a) Side view of the strip config
uration. (b) Front view.
Figure 19. Fabricated prototype of the slim IFA with a modified ground plane.
Figure 20 shows the comparison between the measured and simulated values of the reflec
tion coefficient for the developed antenna that includes the ground plane modifications. It is
observed that at 6 dB reflection coefficient (3:1 VSWR), the measured bandwidths cover two
bands; from 775 to 925 MHz and from 1800 to 2080 MHz. These bands include several LTE
Bands, GSM850 and PCS1900 services.
Compact Planar Multiband Antennas for Mobile Applications
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93
Figure 20. Measured and simulated reflection coefficient, |S
11
|, for the slim IFA with a modified ground plane shown
in Figure 19.
The measured radiation patterns in the lower band reveal that the developed antenna fea
tures high levels of cross-polarization which are welcome in mobile applications. In this
case, the signal reception is unaffected by the orientation of the transceiver. Similar prop
erties of the radiation pattern of the developed antenna are observed in the results for the
upper band. The E-theta component dominates in the x-z plane while the E-phi compo
nent is predominant in the y-z plane. The cross-polarization is smaller than observed in
the lower band. The measured peak gain of the antenna at both bands ranges between -1
to 2.5 dBi in the GSM bands and about 3 dBi in the PCS bands. These obtained gains are
adequate for modern portable transceivers [27].
5. Conclusions
This chapter has presented the designs of compact planar multiband antennas for mobile
and portable wireless devices. The antennas presented use miniaturization techniques of
the main radiator, including meandering, bending, folding and wrapping to achieve com
pact size features, while the multiband operation of the antennas is generated from
ground plane modifications using fixed slots, reconfigurable slots, and a ground strip. All
the designs have utilized their ground planes to achieve multiband operation. Following
the design guidelines, several novel solutions have been presented. All the presented de
sign models have led to promising configurations for applications in wireless and mobile
services.
Advancement in Microstrip Antennas with Recent Applications 94
Author details
Ahmad Rashidy Razali
1
, Amin M Abbosh
2
and Marco A Antoniades
2
1 Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Technology MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia
2 School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queens
land, Brisbane, Australia
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